The present invention relates to a framework making it possible to mount a variety of contactless testing devices, for molded objects, in particular glass objects at a high temperature such as bottles, automatically manufactured at a high rate.
The manufacture of molded objects and in particular glass bottles requires high-precision manufacturing testing in particular relating to leaktightness, the verticality and other shape characteristics and furthermore intended to eliminate manufacturing defects such as internal inclusions in the molded material forming tones, filaments of glass between the two walls of the bottle (which are commonly called "tapezes"), excess material on the collar of the neck, etc.
It is known to perform multiple, partly manual tests on cold objects, that is to say approximately one hour after manufacturing. In order to reduce the time elapsing between manufacturing and testing and thus to be able to act on the manufacturing process in order to decrease the number of defects, a hot testing method and device have already been developed allowing negative feedback on the control system of the manufacturing machine, as described in European Patent 177,004 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,158 (VERRERIE du LANGUEDOC). Such a method for automatic contactless testing of bottles at high temperature, immediately on output from the molding machine, has a large number of advantages.
For implementing testing encompassing a large number of defects it is however necessary to provide a plurality of optical or optoelectronic testing devices along the path of transport of the molded objects such as glass bottles.
The molding machines normally used include a continuously driven conveyor belt on which the molded objects, such as glass bottles, are arranged by the action of a gripper which takes the bottle out of the mold, the bottle then being pushed onto the conveyor by means of a pivoting push rod. The level of the gripper for gripping the molded bottle is constant with respect to the ground on which the molding machine is installed. Now, the machine is generally capable of manufacturing bottles of variable sizes so that it is necessary when changing the manufacturing to modify the level of the conveyor belt with respect to the ground at the location of the molding machine. At the output of the molding machine, the bottles transported on the conveyor are subjected to various treatments, before being conveyed into an oven called a "lehr" inside which the glass bottles are subjected to a final annealing heat treatment. Taking into account the dimensions of the lehr, the input level of the latter is also constant with respect to the ground. It will be understood that under these conditions, it is necessary to provide the possibility of adjusting the inclination of the conveyor belt in a vertical plane between the molding machine and the lehr. These inclination modifications of the conveyor belt lead to additional difficulties for the mounting and arrangement of the various testing instruments necessary for implementing an automatic testing method for molded objects along their passage on the conveyor belt between the molding machine and the lehr. It is furthermore expedient, independently of such an inclination adjustment in a vertical plane, to adjust for possible inclination defects of the conveyor belt with respect to a horizontal plane. The mounting of these test instruments directly on the frame of the conveyor belt may not be envisaged because of the strong vibrations to which the frame is subjected.